Meet Dave Aro | General Manager / Partner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dave Aro and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dave, how does your business help the community?
As an entrepreneur, I wanted to make sure that the businesses I work with are not just focused on profit but also in bettering our community and the world around us. Most of the business partners I work with now, and have worked with in the past, were new to business ownership but many were frustrated with how larger corporations have reduced their community benefit footprint. To be able to mentor them the importance of being a good corporate steward of the community as well as run a solid business has been very rewarding to me. There is also the hope that doing good for the community will be recognized by it, and the community will respond by supporting the business – although that is only a consideration and not the driver of community involvement. Being a partner and general manager of two of the three main ‘jobs’ I have has given me a lot of freedom to propose, and mostly implement, the ideas I have as well as those presented to me by other partners or employees to better the world around us. Some examples of this would be our physical therapy clinic provides sideline athletic trainers to the four school districts that are in our service area. Providing these services, which promote safety, concussion baseline testing and fast response to injuries is a core philosophy of the business from it’s creation. The entity providing these services prior to us was in the process of no longer doing so as it was enough of a financial benefit to them, and while we hope if there is an injury the athlete will utilize our services, they always have the choice to go where they are most comfortable. The business volume from injured athletes does not come close to the cost of providing the services. Another area our therapy staffing company assists with is providing summer speech therapy for children for a very small registration fee. Children with speech issues suffer from low self esteem, can be bullied and may also fall behind in their studies. Anyone who works in the schools can tell you that many kids receiving speech therapy would benefit from more intensive therapy. Schools are limited by access to therapists, funding for services and have a very limited focus on what therapy should be working on compared to services provided in a clinic. Our summer program uses their school plan as a basis for an intensive 6 week, 12 session program where nearly every child improves from baseline, and a number even meet the goals set in their school plans and can be discharged from services. Every employee in our businesses is encouraged to submit ideas for helping our community, including such things as charitable donations or fundraising activities.

What should our readers know about your business?
One of the most important things our companies do is fill niches. Living and working in a relatively rural environment there are shortage areas for many professional services. To make sure that a rural school who needs only a few hours of speech therapy has that covered, or to bring a physical therapist who is the only specialist in a certain area such as sports or working with Parkinson’s patients is very rewarding. Finding these people, particularly those that want to live in a rural area, has been challenging over the years. One way to help is to work to make the community more attractive to these people, and many business owners and community leaders have worked together to create an environment that speaks to people who want a vibrant community to live in has made a large impact in drawing people to live here. The last 10 years it has become much less challenging to recruit to our area and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that many miles of biking, cross country and motor sports trails have been created or improved along with more restaurants and cultural activities. We have gotten to the point now where housing has become an issue for the people that want to come here, so that is now a focus.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
People that visit the Marquette area have a lot of opportunities for recreation, food and drink. Travel Marquette has lists of restaurants, breweries, hiking and biking trails and many cultural activities on the events schedule. Summer brings festivals most weekends from a Blues Festival that draws nationwide talent to a beer festival that brings in around 100 breweries from around the state. Then there are the hundreds of lakes, waterfalls and streams to visit for kayaking, swimming, fishing or just reveling in their beauty. The rich mining history of this area also has museums, heritage trails and some summers the mines host tours.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Growing up in a household where volunteerism was taught to me at a young age has made it a part of my life, for that I can thank my late father. My first job was at a company that gave a lot back to the community and as a manager I was taught the importance of corporate stewardship, for that I can think Cindy Nyquist, founder of U.P. Home Health & Hospice.

Website: www.stayactiveup.com

Facebook: Active Physical Therapy – Ishpeming, Superior Rehabilitation & Professional Services

Image Credits
Daniele Carole (Pink Shirt)